Wings

Winner of the very first best picture Oscar, this silent epic about fighter pilots in the First World War is still exciting aloft but terribly sentimental and cliché-ridden on the ground. The director, William A "Wild Bill" Wellman had himself been a highly decorated fighter pilot with the famous Lafayette Escadrille, so he brought to the project much of his own experience, giving the thrilling action sequences their excitement and veracity. But the story - devised by former pilot John Monk Saunders - switches between a lame love affair and the friendship between two pilots who join up together. Gary Cooper makes a brief appearance and the movie is dedicated to Charles Lindbergh. On original release, the action scenes were magnified and shown on giant screens.